Alpine Optoelectronics, Inc. says its single-wavelength 100G DWDM PAM4 QSFP28 optical transceiver is now beta sampling. The transceiver leverages the company’s nCP4 Silicon Photonics Optical Engine, a patent-pending silicon photonics PAM4 modulator platform it has developed.
The PAM4 QSFP28 operates over 40 fixed wavelengths on the ITU-T C-band DWDM 100-GHz grid, which makes it compatible with standard 40-channel 100-GHz spacing DWDM mux/demux filters. Such modules thus can be combined to offer 4.8 Tbps across 48 channels over a single G.652 single-mode fiber (SMF). With a link budget up to 25 dB, the optical will enable transmission distances of 100 km or more in amplified and dispersion compensated systems. It also will support up to 8-dB link budget for short direct-link applications of 0-2km.
Alpine Optoelectronics notes that PAM4 modules such as its QSFP28 offer a lower price point and power consumption that coherent-based alternatives. The module also offers low latency for such applications as edge computing and financial networks.
“Silicon Photonics technology reached maturity and wide acceptance in the market by 2021,” commented Dr. Vladimir Kozlov, CEO of LightCounting, “but performance of devices based on this technology continues to surprise us. Alpine’s latest product sets another new record in performance and there are probably more to come.”
“Alpine Optoelectronics is proud to deliver our new 100G DWDM QSFP28 PAM4 transceiver to our strategic partners serving the DCI and intra-datacenter marketplace, and they are impressed with the outstanding performance enabled by our nCP4 Silicon Photonics platform,” said Tongqing Wang, President and CEO of Alpine Optoelectronics. “Building upon our strong success with 40G DWDM QSFP+ PAM4 optics already in mass production and our deep understanding of DWDM systems, this new 100G DWDM QSFP28 transceiver offers our customers and partners a clear, cost-effective, and flexible path to higher-speed and higher-density optical networking solutions.”
Alpine Optoelectronics plans to highlight the module and other optical communications products in Booth 2831 at OFC 2021 in San Francisco, California from June 8-10.
For related articles, visit the Optical Technologies Topic Center.
For more information on optical modules and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer’s Guide.
To keep abreast of optical communications technology, subscribe to Lightwave’s Enabling Technologies Newsletter.
